Toothbrush brand Quip sinks its teeth into dental coverage

Quipcare will help the company expand from personal care into professional care. It follows Quip's acquisition of Manhattan-based dental plan company Afora in May of last year.

"The truth is, we've really been working on this since day zero of Quip as a whole," said Simon Enever, co-founder and CEO of Quip. "The Afora acquisition last year was very much an accelerator."

The new Quipcare app is free to download for Quip members and allows them to search dental services, such as check-ups, at set rates 30% to 40% less than average rates in a given area, according to the company. Members can book a service with a dental professional from a curated network and pay for their visits through the app.

In addition to the pay-as-you-go model, Quip members can select to upgrade to Quipcare+ for $25 per month. It includes two preventive check-ups and X-rays annually for $200 less than if booked through Quipcare, the company said. About one-quarter of Americans don't have dental insurance, and about one-third of Americans who don't haven't visited a dentist in more than a year, said Enever, who was named to Crain's 2019 40 Under 40 list.

Quip is building its platform of providers for Quipcare. The company could expand to tens of thousands of providers who have agreed to set discounted prices for services and allow members to pay for those services through the Quipcare app.

"Dental care premiums aren't regulated like they are in health care, meaning profit margins of traditional plans can be big, so patient rates are high, and provider reimbursement low," said Dr. Jeffrey Rappaport, director of care at Quip, in a statement. "With Quipcare, we help patients pay providers more directly, so they can pay less and the provider can keep more, leading to better health outcomes and happier patients and professionals."

Quip was founded in 2014 by Enever and his friend Bill May, and the company has raised more than $60 million to date.

Quip recently doubled the size of its Brooklyn headquarters as well as raised its headcount from about 60 to more than 110 employees. In October the company surpassed 1 million brushes sold through its website and launched selling its products in Target. —Jennifer Henderson

Life expectancy rises in NYC as disparities persist

A child born in the city in 2017 is expected to live a year longer than a child born in 2008, but disparities between black and white New Yorkers and rich and poor residents persist, according to the latest Summary of Vital Statistics released by the city Health Department on Monday.

The citywide life expectancy was 81.2 years in 2017, which was the same as in 2016. It was highest among Hispanics, at 82.4 years, followed by non-Hispanic whites at 81.3 years and 77.3 years among non-Hispanic blacks.

"These data illustrate the persistence of racial/ethnic and neighborhood disparities, which are the long-term result of structural racism," Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot wrote in the report. "The [Health Department] remains committed to identifying the root causes of these disparities and addressing them by sharing data which inform our programmatic priorities."

The rate of premature death, defined as deaths among people younger than 65, fell 2.4% in 2017 compared with the previous year to 184.9 per 100,000. That rate was 14.9% lower than the comparable figure in 2008. People living in neighborhoods where more than 30% of residents are poor were 2.1 times as likely to die prematurely than those living in areas where less than 10% live in poverty. Brownsville in Brooklyn; East Tremont, Morrisania and Mott Haven in the Bronx; and Central Harlem had the highest premature death rates in the city. —Jonathan LaMantia

Somos inks deal with BioReference Laboratories

Somos, a physician-led network that serves more than 700,000 Medicaid beneficiaries in the city, has tapped BioReference Laboratories as a preferred provider for diagnostic testing. The Elmwood Park, N.J.–based lab giant also will assist with data analytics for the network's patients.

BioReference will provide real-time and historical lab data to help the network's physicians with diagnosis and case management. And Somos is now able to use a population health software platform from Orlando, Fla.–based technology company The Garage through a sublicense with BioReference. The platform helps health care providers share clinical data electronically.

Somos focuses on value-based and culturally-competent care. Goals of the collaboration with BioReference include reducing the duplication of services and miscommunication of patient information, said Dr. Diego Ponieman, chief medical officer at Somos.

Because many of the network's patients have multiple chronic conditions, such as hypertension, diabetes and chronic kidney diseases, greater access to and sharing of real-time and historical lab data can help with taking more upstream care approaches for prevention and treatment.

"We have believed in the Somos mission since the very beginning, and we are proud to empower them with our diagnostic services and innovative technology platform," said Adam Fein, vice president of population health at BioReference, in a statement. —J.H.

New York hailed as 'leader' in reproductive rights

The National Institute for Reproductive Health said New York's passage of the Reproductive Health Act earlier this year showed that the state is a leader in protecting affordable access to abortion.

The acknowledgment came in the institute's 2019 midyear report, which chronicled legislative actions at the state level affecting access to abortions. It found 94 bills were enacted across the U.S. to protect reproductive health.

New York's Reproductive Health Act, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed in January, removed abortion from the state's penal code and included safeguards to protect health care providers from punishment if they perform one after the 24th week of pregnancy if a woman's health is at risk or a fetus is not viable.

The report did not highlight the states that have passed laws to ban abortion after a certain point. Nine states have passed such laws since the start of the year, including Alabama, which banned abortion except in cases when a woman's health is at risk, NPR reported. None of the laws have gone into effect yet either because they set future start dates or are being challenged in the courts.

The institute's report included a section on laws that aim to reduce maternal mortality that did not reference New York's efforts in that area. The state budget set aside $8 million over two years for initiatives to address maternal deaths. The budget did not create a review board to examine maternal deaths, which the institute supports, but a bill passed by the state Legislature would create such a board. That bill, A3276, S1819, has not yet been delivered to the governor. —J.L.

AT A GLANCE

WHO'S NEWS: Mark Weiss is the new chief financial officer at the New Jewish Home, which runs nursing homes in Manhattan and Westchester County as well as senior residences in the Bronx. He was previously CFO, vice president and administrator at the senior care system Montefiore in Cleveland.

Dr. Ji Young Chong is now associate chief of neurology and director of the stroke program at New York–Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. Chong will also lead the hospitals Mobile Stroke Treatment Unit. She previously was site chief of neurology and director of the stroke center at New York–Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital.

AGING OUT: Elizabeth Seton Children's Center in Yonkers is asking the state Department of Health to approve a new type of care facility for young adults ages 22 to 35 with complex illnesses, The Journal News reported. Nearly one-third of children who leave the facility on their 22nd birthday die within 14 months, officials said. The organization announced Monday that it is renaming its school, rehab center and foundation under the Elizabeth Seton Children's brand to promote greater clarity.

BAD DEBT: As uncompensated care grows, hospitals are exploring new ways of collecting money from patients, Modern Healthcare reported. Providers that have sued patients, including their own employees, to recoup payments have faced a recent wave of criticism.

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